How does Gold IRA Rollover Guide evaluate companies?

Every company is scored 1–5 on five weighted criteria: rollover expertise and support (25%), fee transparency (25%), transfer speed and process (15%), custodian and depository network (15%), and customer feedback (20%). The weighted average produces the overall score on each comparison page.

Why is rollover expertise its own criterion?

Because most gold IRA marketing is built around opening accounts, not moving money. We score whether a company handles your specific plan type — 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), TSP — uses a direct-rollover-first process, and staffs actual transfer specialists rather than a general sales desk.

Do companies pay for better ratings?

No. We do not sell placement, and a company can never pay to change a score. Criteria are published before any commercial relationship exists. Our affiliate disclosure explains how the site may earn money without affecting ratings.

How often do you update evaluations?

We re-verify fees, transfer timelines and minimums at least quarterly, and sooner when a company changes terms or IRS thresholds move. Each page shows the date its facts were last checked.

How We Evaluate Gold IRA Rollover Companies: Methodology

Q: Where does your data come from?

From primary and public sources: company fee schedules, BBB profiles, Trustpilot and ConsumerAffairs records, IRS publications for every rule we cite, and official plan documents (TSP, 403(b), 457(b)). Every page lists its sources with the date we checked them.

A gold IRA rollover has more failure modes than an ordinary account opening: plan-type restrictions, withholding traps, the 60-day window, plan-specific paperwork. So the criteria here are built around what actually goes wrong in a transfer — not around generic "best company" vibes. Five criteria, fixed weights, published sources.

The five criteria and their weights

Criterion	Weight	What we measure
Rollover Expertise & Support	25%	Handles 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and TSP transfers; dedicated specialists; direct-rollover-first process that avoids the 60-day trap.
Fee Transparency	25%	Published setup, admin and storage pricing; no surprise spreads; written fee schedules before you fund.
Transfer Speed & Process	15%	Realistic timelines for each step, wire vs check handling, how often transfers stall and why.
Custodian & Depository Network	15%	Choice of IRS-approved depositories, segregated storage availability, insurance coverage.
Customer Feedback & Ratings	20%	Volume and shape of BBB, Trustpilot and ConsumerAffairs records: complaint themes, resolution behavior.

Scoring rules

Each criterion is scored 1–5 against the published definition, then weighted.
Hard cap — hidden pricing: no published fee schedule, no full fees score — regardless of everything else.
Hard cap — unresolved complaints: a pattern of unresolved BBB or regulator complaints caps the feedback score.
Plan-type verification: claims like "we handle TSP" are verified against process documents or direct disclosure — marketing copy alone doesn't count.
When sources disagree, we publish the range instead of rounding it into confidence.

Sources we accept

Company fee schedules (dated), BBB profiles, Trustpilot and ConsumerAffairs records, IRS publications for every rule we cite, and official plan documents — tsp.gov forms and rules, plan summaries for 403(b) and 457(b). We do not accept affiliate-supplied materials as a source of facts.

Update schedule

Fees, timelines and minimums are re-verified at least quarterly. IRS thresholds and plan rules move — when they do, we update sooner and date the change on the page. Corrections ship within days of confirmation.

What this site is not

Not tax or investment advice. Rollover treatment depends on your plan, your age and your employment status — we explain the rules and cite the source, and we tell you when the answer is "it depends; here is the document that decides it."